


Search for the Dwemer Part 1

by NiceEnoughRaccoon



Series: Search for the Dwemer Collection [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Diary/Journal, Fighting, Gen, POV Alternating, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 13:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9660032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiceEnoughRaccoon/pseuds/NiceEnoughRaccoon
Summary: Solana and Qa'Zahiir have been researching the disappearance of the Dwemer for a long time. They've been to Valenwood, Hammerfell, and Elsweyr. They're search now brings them to Skyrim, but the Imperial Army caught them crossing the border. After escape, Solana recounts their time in Skyrim from being prisoners to Qa'Zahiir's realization of being the Dragonborn to what really happened to the Dwemer! Qa'Zahiir even adds a few entries into the journal to offer a different perspective.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fiction ever and my first attempt at writing a story that wasn't for school! This is only the first part of the story and most of it is drawn from the first few missions of the game. The second part will deviate from the main story more and focus on Solana and Qa'Zahiir's mission to uncover what happened to the Dwemer. There is no romance between the characters, just a very good friendship.   
>  Seeing as this is my first work I welcome good feedback because I want the second part to be better than the first. I look forward to continue writing!

Solana – 10:36pm Sundas, 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201

      Earlier today Zahiir and I were captured by Imperial guards while crossing the border from Cyrodiil into Skyrim. Damned Imperials took everything we had; armor, weapons, even our old journal. Luckily after we escaped the ordeal I found this one and can recap what was in the last one. Maybe we’ll try and get the old one back.

      But more about the ordeal we faced! After getting knocked out we woke up in rags in a carriage with three other prisoners. The one closest to us started talking to us and the guy next to him interrupted cursing the Stormcloaks for they’re rebellion. He was a horse thief though so we didn’t pay him any attention. Ralof, the prisoner closest to us, informed us that the man next to me was Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King and leader of the Stormcloak Rebellion.

      We arrived in Helgen, an Imperial city, where several other prisoners were waiting. While they were checking our names the horse thief tried to make a break for it and was shot down immediately. Didn’t matter. We were all lined up for the chopping block anyway, even though Zahiir and I weren’t on the list. Unlucky I guess. One of the prisoners waiting was the first to be executed. Then another. And another. Then I heard Zahiir’s name called followed by a weird sound in the distance. It sounded like the wind was shouting in anger. When Zahiir’s head was on the block and the axe in the air, that’s when the maker of the sound showed up! It was a dragon! And by the looks of him, he was a nasty one! I’d never seen a dragon before. Honestly it was pretty cool! Scary but cool. I actually have to thank the dragons timing, if it weren’t for him Zahiir would be dead and I’d be out a best friend.

      While the dragon attacked the town, Ralof lead us to safety and offered to help us escape. Being in trouble with the law wasn’t a thing either of us wanted really but I’m pretty sure the dragon killed almost everybody. We weren’t even on the list so who cares? Ralof freed us from our bonds and we found some suitable clothing and some old weapons in some rooms in the keep we were trapped in. We delved deeper into the keep to see if there was a way out and just so happens there was! After a while we ran into a few Imperial grunts trying to get away as well. I don’t like them but I would’ve teamed up to make things easier I they hadn’t attacked us on sight. Zahiir dispatched most of them quickly while Ralof and I fooled with our own fights.

      After a few more enemies here and there throughout the cave beneath the keep, including a bear and some frostbite spiders, we finally found the exit into Skyrim proper. We managed to grab a few coins off of the bodies we left in our wake and even nabbed some better armor. I’ll have to cut a hole in Zahiir’s leggings for is tail to fit through though. Ralof lead us to Riverwood where his sister runs the mill and gave us some supplies including this new journal!

We’re staying at the inn for a few days and working at the mill to repay them for all their kindness.  We’ll soon head to Whiterun to inform the Jarl of the attack on Helgen and start our quest we originally came here for.

 

Qa’Zahiir – 9:14am Morndas, 18th of Last Seed, 4E 201

            Solana informed this one that he should also write in the book so our story can be better known by anyone who reads it. This one thinks that she just wants to know what Qa’Zahiir thinks about and how Qa’Zahiir feels. Even if she promises not to read writings, this one thinks she will anyway. But it is okay. Solana is friend and Qa’Zahiir trusts her and understands.

            …….Qa’Zahiir misses his home. The weather here is cold, even in Riverwood so close to the border. Qa’Zahiir can withstand the weather but he worries about his Bosmer companion. She is not use to weather below her tropic home climate. But she will say nothing to this one. She is strong and stubborn, but this one knows. Even still, This one would rather have the sands of Dune and adventure in the desert close to his litter than be in Skyrim’s snow far away from home. After our adventure here is finished, perhaps we go back and journey the sands of Elsweyr. This one would like that. Qa’Zahiir is happy when he is with Solana. 

 

Solana – 10:52pm Morndas, 18th of Last Seed, 4E 201

      There’s been a change of plan; while working at the mill today, Zahiir and I heard that there is some nice treasure in the Nordic ruins nearby, Bleak Falls Barrow. Tomorrow we will climb the mountain and see what we can get from inside. Hopefully we can find some more coin and when we get back buy some supplies from the local shop. The owner’s daughter seems to really like Zahiir and me. Like, really like us. I think she was flirting with both of us. Skyrim is a strange place.

      I’m glad to see that Zahiir has written something in the journal. He wouldn’t ever write anything in the other one but seemed to enjoy watching me write in it. I promised him I wouldn’t read his entries and while I think he thinks I will anyways, I won’t. Invading his privacy like that isn’t right. Anyway we have to get to bed soon if we’re going to be up early enough to get to the ruins by ten. I hope everything goes okay tomorrow.

 

Solana – 11:20am Middas, 20th of Last Seed, 4E 201

      Yesterday Zahiir and I went into the Nordic ruins called Bleak Falls Barrow and boy was that something! Immediately after arriving we were attacked by bandits. Thankfully they weren’t very competent and were easy to take care of. Why they would choose old ruins to set up camp in anyway? It was dusty and moldy inside and there were tons of things that could’ve killed them in the night while they slept! I suppose they’d have someone on guard at all times and, being bandits, I guess they’ve learned to stand staying anywhere they can. Doesn’t matter know though, they’re all dead! And good riddance too! I found some of their journals and read they’re plans to ambush innocent people of all their things. People get what they deserve and bandits deserve the worst. We got some good loot from them though! Mostly coin and potions, their armor was all worn out and torn up. Plus I didn’t want to put another hole in another set of armor just after finishing Zahiir’s current leggings.

      Further into the ruin we came across tombs of ancient Nords and they were full of drauger. Most were easy to dispatch but others proved to be a challenge, even for Zahiir! These guys were wearing some pretty cool armor and kept shouting at us. The weird thing is, the shouts were throwing us off balance and I ended up getting nauseous. Zahiir suggested we continued after I rested a bit but I was too eager to continue and find out what was deeper in the ruins. If there were drauger this strong so close to the surface, I was sure there would be harder enemies further down and I was too excited to see if we could take them on!

      Sure enough, I as right! But more on that later! Before we got into the deepest chambers we came across a bunch of frostbite spiders. The little ones were super easy to kill but, what I expect was their mother, was a bit tougher. Not the challenge I had wanted though. Zahiir used his torch to scare the beast and I chopped of a few of its legs before stabbing it in the head. Once all the commotion had stopped a man called to us from a web behind us. He had gotten caught and was going to the dinner, but lucky for him we arrived! He said that he had something to give us if we helped him down, so we did. Unfortunately he was a liar and attacked us because he thought we were after a golden claw he said he had. Obviously we weren’t but we had to put him down anyway if we wanted to live so… Anyway! The claw he had happened to open a specially sealed door a little further down! This is where the fun started! This door led into a great big natural tomb, like it was a tomb but it was surrounded by greenery and a small waterfall with a little creek flowing out of the cave! At the center was the enemy I had hoped for, a Drauger Deathlord! At least that’s what the locals called it when we told them of what we found. This guy was tough! Tougher than I had hoped actually, but Zahiir and I worked well together, like always, to take him down. From the front I distracted him with small slashes and a few shield bashes while Zahiir let down some big swings from behind with his warhammer. Three or four hits put the fucker down on his knees, and then Zahiir laid him down with a final smash to the head. And as great and as fun as that fight was all we got out of it were three coins and a tablet with weird markings all over it. Zahiir did get something else from it though. There was a big curved wall behind where the drauger was buried with more weird markings on it and when we approached it Zahiir stared at one group of symbols like he was in a trance. It was odd. When he came out of it he seemed normal and said he didn’t feel like anything had happened. He said he was just drawn to those symbols for some reason. I’ll ask the apothecary in Whiterun about it while we’re there.

      When we got back to Riverwood we stopped in at the shop to sell off anything we didn’t want and got around two hundred coin for everything except the claw and the tablet. In fact, we got three hundred just for the claw because the owner said that it was his and it had been stolen from him recently! He wouldn’t take the tablet though. Said it looked too old and worthless to be able to sell. Maybe someone in Whiterun will take it. Anyway Zahiir and I are working the mill again today and then tomorrow we’re heading out to Whiterun. I hope everything goes well and we don’t run into any trouble!

 

Qa’Zahiir – 10:02pm Middas, 20th of Last Seed, 4E 201

            Qa’Zahiir feels odd. Yesterday in the ruins This One was mesmerized by markings on a wall. Today This one feels like he knows something he yet does not understand. It is most worrisome for This one. Perhaps an alchemist in Whiterun will help. Some potions should do the trick. Solana also worries This one. She shows too much excitement for fighting. She was not like this in Hammerfell or Elsweyr before. Perhaps it is because of the strange climate? Qa’Zahiir does not know. He will keep a close eye on her so she does not get out of control.

 

Solana – 11:20pm Turdas, 21st of Last Seed, 4E 201

      If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it! Zahiir is the Dragonborn! I’ve read that the Dragonborn is born a mortal person but has the soul of a dragon! I knew Zahiir was special… but I worry about him. He’s a great fighter, no doubt, but he’s also very humble and is one of the sweetest persons I know. I don’t know if he’ll be alright with being the Dragonborn and having all this responsibility thrown at him like this. I guess I should write what happened earlier.

      So like I said, Zahiir and I went to Whiterun today to inform the Jarl of the dragon attack on Helgen. When we arrived the guards stopped us and said that nobody was allowed into the city. I informed the guard of the news I was bringing and he let me pass. But only me. The prick wouldn’t let Zahiir in because he’s a Khajiit. Racist asshole. That explained the Khajiit caravan/camp outside the city walls. Zahiir said it was okay and left me to go inside while he went to talk with the Caravan. The city was impressive I’ll admit but their attitude toward the Khajiit kept me from showing any appreciation for it. I found my way to the Jarl’s palace, Dragonsreach, and approached the Jarl. I was stopped, again, by the Jarl’s housecarl, Irileth. She was a mean looking son of a bitch. Again, I explained the situation and was shown to the Jarl immediately. Balgruuf seems like a good Jarl. He was very approachable and when thinking things over he put his people first. I plan to talk to him again about the Khajiit ban in the city. But back to the story! Balgruuf showed me to his court wizard, who apparently is the local expert on dragons, and informed me that there was something he needed that he thought would help prepare against a dragon attack. It so happened that what he needed was the stone tablet that Zahiir and I had found the other day! I gave it for him and he rewarded me with a hundred coin. As he was examining it though Irileth ran I and asked me to follow her upstairs. Up there I was informed by the Jarl that a dragon had just attacked a local tower and one of the survivors had made it back to let us know. Balgruuf told Irileth to gather a party and go see if they could do anything about the dragon. Of course she asked me to join them seeing as I had escaped a dragon attack once already.

      On the way to the tower I grabbed Zahiir and let him know that we were getting ready to fight a dragon. He seemed excited to fight something other than lousy undead and thieves. We arrived at the tower and after a few minutes of helping survivors the dragon roared from the mountains nearby and was on its way down! We all prepared ourselves in a matter of second the fight was on! Neither Zahiir nor I had a bow to fight the dragon with when I was in the air so we had to wait until it landed to get up close to do some damage. Irileth is scary good with a bow! She shot the dragon straight in the eye forcing it to crash into the ground giving us some time to wail on it while it recovered! But once it did, man was it hard to kill… Zahiir took it head on and suffered some pretty nasty burns and bites (I keep telling him a one-handed and shield is better than a two-handed but he just won’t listen!) The dragons tail in me pretty hard a few times so my arms a bit bruised up but nothing serious. With the dragon weakened Zahiir took a big swing at its head and *Crack* broke its jaw! I was them able to rush up front and stab it through the other eye to kill it! And here’s where things got interesting. The dragons scaled started to burn away and as they did a great gust of wind blew from it and strait at Zahiir! The guards then went completely nuts! Talking about him being the dragonborn and asking him to try and shout… AND HE DID IT! Knocked one of the guards a good twelve feet back!

      As we were making our way back, a thunderous voice rang from the sky “DOVAHKIIN”. The guards all fell silent until we made it back to the city. The guards let Zahiir into Whiterun this time. I’m not sure if out of respect or fear though… either way Zahiir finally got to see the city and was eager to get to the alchemist for some potions. The Jarl awarded us for our duty appointed us our very own housecarl. Lydia seemed nice and all but with the current (secret) business Zahiir and I were on, we couldn’t just take whoever we wanted with us. Plus we now have to deal with all this dragonborn stuff and one person is enough to worry about. The voice from earlier, according to Jarl Balgruuf, was the Greybeards calling for Zahiir to come to High Hrothgar on top of the Throat of the World, the tallest mountain in all of Tamriel!

      After we left Dragonsreach we found our way straight to the inn. Zahiir is resting up now with bandages over his legs and torso for the burns. The alchemist sold us a very powerful burn cure so he should be up and ready for our trip tomorrow. I think we’ll stop at the Khajiit caravan on our way out to trade for supplies and then head to Ivarstead at the base of the Throat of the World. I hope this dragonborn business doesn’t take too long. I’m so close to finding my ancestors secret!

 

Qa’Zahiir – 2:06am Fredas, 22nd of Last Seed, 4E 201

            Qa’Zahiir misses his home more now than a few days ago. It is hard to accept being the dragonborn. Qa’Zahiir has been nothing but a Khajiit since his birth and to be anything else is….staggering. Solana and This Ones business here should not be the business of the Nords and the dragons but only that of ours and the Dwemer. This One can only hope that the greybeards understand and will let us go about our own duties rather than do whatever it is they may want us to do.

 

Qa’Zahiir – 6:33pm Fredas, 22nd of Last Seed, 4E 201

            Qa’Zahiir and Solana have made it to Ivarstead after traveling for around nine and a half hours. The two of us left Whiterun close to 8:30 and followed the map Jarl Balgruuf gave us. Along the way many people and creatures attacked us for one reason or another. Solana did not like having to fight the animals but there was no choice. The bandits and Vampires the two of us faced were minor inconveniences. A group of bandits at a bridge demanded a toll be paid and when refusal was the only toll they received they attacked. After quickly dispatching them This One suggested Solana and Qa’Zahiir rest for a while. After an hour of looting the bandit camp, the two of us set out again. Many times did ferocious animals such as wolves and saber cats attack and many times did Qa’Zahiir and Solana reluctantly fight them off. To honor and respect the animals Solana gathered their pelts and any organs This One could use for alchemy. Many may ask why this is respectable. Using an animal’s body after death means that the animal did not die in vain and in This One’s Tribe, to die in vain is the worst outcome of death.

            Near Ivarstead a group f vampires ambushed the two of us but they seemed to be too weak, perhaps from a lack of blood. In their camp nearby Qa’Zahiir found a body sucked completely dry with a note about a group of vampire hunters called the Dawnguard. Perhaps if the two of us weren’t already busy, Solana and Qa’Zahiir could check out the group and maybe offer to help. It is around 6:30 at the moment and Solana is resting in the room she rented for the two of us. This One is out in the dinning all eating his fill of slaughterfish fillet. Although the burden of being dragonborn is great and it weighs heavy on his heart, Qa’Zahiir is excited to meet the greybeards and learn what he can from them.

 

Solana – 9:43pm Sundas, 24th of Last Seed, 4E 201

      Fourteen thousand steps… fourteen Thousand FUCKING STEPS!! I walked all the way up the seven thousand steps with Zahiir to High Hrothgar yesterday and those crazy old men welcomed Zahiir with open arms and didn’t even seem to notice me! After their leader stopped talking Zahiir was finally able to introduce me to those assholes and they straight up told him that I wasn’t welcome! They wouldn’t even say it to me! They told Zahiir to tell me! Apparently I’m not good enough for them or something like that. Zahiir says that they only called for him to come and that they didn’t want him to bring any company. How the hell was he suppose to know that!? Fuck these guys. So I grabbed Zahiir and told him that we were just going to leave and he refused… He’s such a do-gooder that even when these people who want his help refuse to let his best friend join them, he still wants to help them! I hope the dragons kill all of them! After all that nonsense I walked all the way back down those seven thousand steps and when I got back to town I went to the inn and got drunk. I may have angered a few people there and got thrown out and then had to come back to Whiterun. I’m helping the Khajiit outside sell some items inside the walls for right now until I can find another traveling companion. Hopefully that’ll happen sooner than later.

 

Solana – 7:21pm Tirdas, 26th of Last Seed, 4E 201

      So far I haven’t gotten any hits on anyone wanting to join me on my journey. I guess advertising the job as “a partner on a secret quest” isn’t getting anyone’s attention because they don’t know what the quest even is. Everything around here is boring now. I’m going to keep helping the Khajiit but I don’t think I’m going to be writing in the journal anymore. At least until I can find someone to join me and the mission at hand is back on track. Skyrim sucks.


End file.
